Percy Jackson's Greek Gods (Percy Jackson and the Olympians companion #5.5) - Rick Riordan Page 0,3

was kind of unnerving, too. He was young for a beard, but he’d already started growing his whiskers into a single spike that jutted from his chin like the beak of a raven.

When Kronos saw the scythe, his eyes gleamed. He wanted that iron blade. Alone among his siblings, he understood how much damage it could cause.

And as for killing his dad—why not? Ouranos barely noticed him. Neither did Gaea, for that matter. His parents probably didn’t even know his name.

Kronos hated being ignored. He was tired of being the smallest and wearing all those stupid Titan hand-me-downs.

“I’ll do it,” he repeated. “I’ll chop up Dad.”

“My favorite son!” Gaea cried. “You are awesome! I knew I could count on you, uh…which one are you again?”

“Kronos.” He managed to keep his smile. Hey, for a scythe, cookies, and a chance to commit murder, Kronos could hide his true feelings. “I will be honored to kill for you, Mother. But we’ll have to do it my way. First, I want you to trick Ouranos into visiting you. Tell him you’re sorry. Tell him it’s all your fault and you’re going to cook him a fancy dinner to apologize. Just get him here tonight and act like you still love him.”

“Ugh!” Gaea gagged. “Are you crazy?”

“Just pretend,” Kronos insisted. “Once he’s in human form and sitting next to you, I’ll jump out and attack him. But I’ll need some help.”

He turned to his siblings, who were all suddenly very interested in their own feet.

“Look, guys,” said Kronos, “if this goes bad, Ouranos is going to take revenge on all of us. We can’t have any mistakes. I’ll need four of you to hold him down and make sure he doesn’t escape back into the sky before I finish killing him.”

The others were silent. They were probably trying to picture their shrimpy little brother Kronos taking on their huge violent dad, and they weren’t liking the odds.

“Oh, come on!” Kronos chided. “I’ll do the actual slicing and dicing. Four of you just need to hold him. When I’m king, I’ll reward those four! I’ll give them each a corner of the earth to rule—north, south, east, and west. One-time offer. Who’s with me?”

The girls were too wise to get involved in murder. They made their excuses and quickly left. The oldest son, Oceanus, chewed his thumb nervously. “I have to get back to the sea, for some, uh, aquatic stuff. Sorry…”

That left only four of Kronos’s brothers—Koios, Iapetus, Krios, and Hyperion.

Kronos smiled at them. He took the scythe from Gaea’s hands and tested its point, drawing a drop of golden blood from his own finger. “So, four volunteers! Nice!”

Iapetus cleared his throat. “Uh, actually—”

Hyperion jabbed Iapetus with his elbow. “We’re in, Kronos!” he promised. “You can count on us!”

“Excellent,” Kronos said, which was the first time an evil genius ever said excellent. He told them the plan.

That night, amazingly, Ouranos showed up.

He wandered into the valley where he usually met Gaea and frowned when he saw the sumptuous dinner laid out on the table. “I got your note. Are you serious about making up?”

“Absolutely!” Gaea was dressed in her best green sleeveless dress. Her curly hair was braided with jewels (which were easy for her to get, being the earth), and she smelled of roses and jasmine. She reclined on a sofa in the soft light of the candles and beckoned her husband to come closer.

Ouranos felt underdressed in his loincloth. He hadn’t brushed his hair or anything. His nighttime skin was dark and covered with stars, but that probably didn’t count as “black tie” for a fancy dinner. He was starting to think he should’ve at least brushed his teeth.

Was he suspicious? I don’t know. Remember, nobody in the history of the cosmos had been lured into an ambush and chopped to pieces before. He was going to be the first. Lucky guy. Also, he got lonely hanging out in the sky so much. His only company was the stars, the air god Aither (who was, in fact, a total airhead), and Nyx and Hemera, mother and daughter, who argued with each other every dawn and dusk.

“So…” Ouranos’s palms felt sweaty. He’d forgotten how beautiful Gaea could be when she wasn’t all yelling up in his face. “You’re not angry anymore?”

“Not at all!” Gaea assured him.

“And…you’re okay with me wrapping our kids in chains and throwing them into the abyss?”

Gaea gritted her teeth and forced a smile. “I am okay with it.”

“Good,” he